Winning the Battle, Losing the War
by Kou-kun
Summary: Sasuke finds himself lost when someone asks him a question he's never had to think about before. Unused to needing others' help, he gains support from those who care for him, even past his cold hearted appearance. REALLY RARE COUPLE, sorry, not yoai
1. Default Chapter

A/N - Okay. So I have this REALLY, REALLY rare couple that I've never seen before. It pops into my head in the car, 4 minutes before I hear the song that inspires the story. What else can I do but write it???  
  
Summary - Sasuke finds himself lost when someone asks him a question he's never had to think about before. Unused to needing others' help, he gains support from those who care for him, even past his cold hearted appearance. **REALLY RARE COUPLE, sorry, not yoai**  
  
Legend -   
  
[[....]] = flashback, or dream  
  
'...' = thoughts  
  
"...." = speech  
  
~~Winning the Battle, Losing the War~~  
  
Sasuke walked down the unpaved road, hands in his pockets. It was a leisurely temperature, the mild humidity wrapping him in a warm blanket. The sun was just setting, and the villagers were just retiring to their homes for the night. It was to be cold.   
  
Sasuke was outside for a reason other than gardening or playing, though. Blood trickled down his arm, a result of training with Kakashi-sensei. The young shinobi was returning home from a hard-days' work, and he wasn't the least bit tired. Just damaged.   
  
His black hair hung in front of his face, but he didn't wisp it away as usual, he simply closed his eyes and ignored it. Sasuke remembered his early days at the academy, learning about the proper techniques of healing.  
  
[["Sasuke, can you tell me why we should just bandage ourselves and relax when we are injured?" Iruka asked an 8-year-old Sasuke, who sat with a bored grimace on his face.  
  
"One of the characteristics of a living organism is the replenishing of damaged cells. When we are injured, our body will regenerate, just so long as we do not injure ourselves further." Sasuke was intelligent, but school was not an issue to him. His parents forced him enough so that he would be a good shinobi. Like all the other Uchihas.  
  
"Correct."]]  
  
Later that year, Sasuke had come home to see that his ever-so-perfect brother had insanely   
  
murdered his family. It had torn him, but it had also given him the ambition to keep going with the academy. Sasuke frowned, remembering more of the days when he had not cared for becoming a shinobi.   
  
'How could anyone stand being so lazy? Such failures... how can people stand themselves?'Sasuke thought to himself, welling up with anger at his brother.   
  
'Everything came so easy to him. Even murdering his own parents.'Sasuke frowned as he looked down at his feet. 'I will myself never to cry over that. Not until my parents are avenged.' Over the years, Sasuke's anger had risen. He had never depressed himself about his parents. He only raged at his brother and fought to be a shinobi great enough to overcome him. No time for becoming close to anyone.  
  
'Pfft.' Sasuke laughed to himself, a twisted smirk trying to work it's way up to his expressionless face. 'People these days are blind. They don't see what's REALLY important. Love? Friendship? Ha! Where will that be when you are inches from death?'  
  
Sasuke was roused from his deep thought when he heard a shuffle on the road behind him. Turning, he saw Ino, the annoying girl who had been friends with Sakura.   
  
"Sasuke-kun!" She yelled, running up and clinging to him. Sasuke grimaced.   
  
"Ino. Go away." he coldly mumbled, struggling to move towards his house with her weight on his back.  
  
"Oh, Sasuke-kun, don't act so hard-to-get!" Ino squealed, smiling in a way which (to her) was seductive.  
  
"Go.. Away." Sasuke growled, pushing forward. Ino still didn't let go of him, however, and he turned to another resort of losing the pesky girl. "Ino-pig."   
  
The raven-haired boy grinned to himself as he watched Ino storm away, mumbling something about  
  
'That sadistic bitch, forehead-girl.'   
  
Finally rid of Ino, Sasuke turned up the path to his house, unlocking the door quietly and heading to the bathroom to nurse his arm. The sun was down, and Sasuke routinely grabbed a copy of 'Shinobi' magazine for leisure reading. It was time to get some rest, there was training to be done tomorrow.   
  
  
  
  
  
Sasuke woke the next morning, his arm throbbing. It had worsened overnight, and it was now looking disgustingly infected. Standing up, the blood rushed to his head and he fell back. He stared out the window for a moment, listening to the pounding rain. He remembered the day before, when he had received the injury.   
  
[[All three young shinobi panted as they face their teacher, Hatake Kakashi. They held various weapons in their hands, and all were cut and bruised. Sasuke, the least weakened, stepped forward to his opponent.   
  
"I'm not tired. Let's train some more while the others rest." He said, looking Kakashi in the eye. The teacher glanced back at him through his one normal eye, and Sasuke could feel the other looking at him through that forehead protector.  
  
"Sasuke, you really shouldn't push yourself that hard. You need time to regenerate. You learned that in the Academy."   
  
"I know, I know, but I'm not that hurt. I can handle it." He stood in a ready battle position, facing his teacher, who automatically became his opponent again.  
  
"Okay. Okay." The taller man gave in, lunging forward towards his student.   
  
Sasuke forced the chakra into his feet, leaping up out of the way and stepping off a tree just in time to dodge a fury of shurikens launched at him. He landed behind the teacher, and was about to swing his leg around and trip him, when the body puffed into a cloud and an arm was around his neck.   
  
He changed direction and swung and arm up, giving himself time to escape the grip. Kakashi's arm flung out, holding a kunai, and gashed into Sasuke's upper arm. The black haired boy winced and was knocked off balance, now at the mercy of his teacher.  
  
"Alright, now you rest." The gray-haired Jounin took grip of the boy's bad arm and dragged him to the nearby picnic table for a small rejuvenating snack. "Eat, and then you can have one more spar. That's all for today then."   
  
Swinging his arm over the table's bench, Sasuke rubbed his arm and sat down, staring at his teacher as he walked away. He wondered if he would ever beat the jounin, and earn his own power worthy of fighting Itachi. He needed to. ]]  
  
Sasuke rubbed his arm again, back in reality, and slowly stood up. His head was light, and his throat was sore. His strong immune system had failed him and he was sick. Attempting to shrug it off, Sasuke went to the kitchen to make some breakfast.   
  
He used his good arm in making the eggs and toast, and also used his good arm to pour the tea, to drink, and to eat. He would let his arm heal, as he'd learned back in that year of horror. He nursed it all he could when he was changing, and as he walked out the door to the meeting place, the sun was just rising. The rain stung his wound, and irritated his sickness, but he kept going.  
  
By the time Sasuke reached the all-familiar bridge, His arm was once again throbbing and he couldn't think straight. He heard one of his team mates trudge through a puddle as they stepped onto the bridge, but didn't look up to see which person it was. His vision was swirling, he was struggling to stand even with the support of the railing.  
  
'Since when do I get this sick?? I'm supposed to... be...' Sasuke pushed on his arms, threatening the shaky railing with his weight. His sore arm gave, though, and his thoughts were to be finished as he fell. "Strong.." He mumbled, his knees giving and collapsing.   
  
"Sasuke-kun!!" He heard Sakura yell, and his vision went. He faintly heard running footsteps, before his body shut down and he was out cold.  
  
Sasuke blinked open his eyes to find himself in a strange bed. Sakura was dozing by his side, and Naruto was perched on the footboard of the bed, facing the wall. Kakashi, though, was looking straight at him, and noticing he was awake, He spoke.  
  
"You shouldn't have come to training." He spoke quietly, but Naruto heard and turned, waking Sakura.   
  
"Sasuke-kun!" She called, hugging him gently. "You're awake!" Sasuke winced, and weakly pushed the pink haired girl away.   
  
"He wasn't that sick, Sakura. Just weak. It's not like he died again or anything." Kakashi eyed Sasuke, both thinking of the episode of previous training.  
  
"I can handle it." The words echoed through Sasuke's head, but he had not time to revel, for soon a nurse walked in and shooed the visitors out.   
  
'The hospital? This is a hospital room?' Sasuke attempted to turn and look, but his head pounded with ache, and the nurse was offering him painkillers he couldn't turn down. 'The hospital...' He thought lethargically as the painkillers kicked in.   
  
Over the next few days, Sasuke drifted in and out of sleep. Once, he experienced a dream he'd never had before. After the first time he had the dream, it kept coming back to him.  
  
[["Sasuke." He heard a whisper, and turning around, Itachi, Sasuke's older brother, held a flashlight up to his face. "You wanna hear a scary story?"   
  
Itachi was 12 years old. His younger brother looked at him eagerly, and he smirked, beginning the story.   
  
"There once was a little boy, and he was about YOUR age." Itachi poked Sasuke on the nose, his smile gone. "He had a good life, two good parents, a dog, and a little baby sister." He paused, his wide-eyed little brother waiting eagerly for the good part to begin. "They all lived in a nice house on a street surrounded by huge Sakura trees. Every spring, a flurry in through the window and land on the little boy's bed and all over his room, surrounding his little sister in petals all through her crib.  
  
"The little boy loved Sakura petals. He went outside and played in them, like fall leaves. Inside, at night, his dreams were comforted with images of the spring. But one spring, the season was bleak. A great shinobi war was raging, and all surrounding the little villiage were enemies. The streets were covered with guards, and were dripping with blo-"  
  
"ITACHI!!" Sasuke's mother screamed, running to cover her son's mouth. "Don't tell any further!" She held tight to his mouth, but it was still obvious the boy was grinning. Reaching into his pocket-compartment, he grabbed something and hid it under his hand as his mother struggled. Raising the Kunai to her throat, Itachi killed his mother, his hands stained with blood.  
  
"MAAMA!" Sasuke screamed, Running to his mother's body. Itachi held his little brother back, laughing insanely. "MOM! WAKE UP! YOU'RE HURT!" Sasuke struggled, failing to his brother's grip. "MOM!" ]]  
  
Sasuke woke, tears streaming down his face. He quickly wiped them off, rubbing his eyes in case anyone should walk in. Sure enough, there was a click and the door unlocked, the nurse letting in a visitor.   
  
"Urk, Ino, I told you to stay away from me!" he said, watching with disgust as Ino put the flowers down on the table.   
  
"But Sasuke-kun! You're hurt! You need me around!" She squealed, seating herself by his side.   
  
"I'm not hurt that badly, and even if I was, you'd only hurt me further with your screeching and squealing." He persisted, for once wishing Sakura to be there, to ward off her rival. There was a knock on the door, and a nurse stood in front of a small figure.   
  
"Sasuke-san, there is only one visitor allowed at a time with the exception of your team mates and sensei, and there is a miss Hyuuga Hinata here to see you... would you like me to escort Ino out?" She asked politely, and Sasuke nodded immediately.   
  
"Yes, Please." Ino shot him a look as she walked out of the room, and Hinata then shuffled in.  
  
"Hello, Sasuke-san." She said, sitting quietly and reaching into a bag she carried with her. She ruffled through for a bit, and then Sasuke leaned back.  
  
'Great.' He thought, 'Now those stupid girls are going to pester me all the time. Don't they understand my body needs REST?'   
  
"What are you doing here?" Sasuke asked, annoyed.   
  
"I heard you were hurt. Naruto-kun told me all about what happened... I assumed your body'd given in... So I brought you some homemade medecine." She handed him a small bottle of a dark blue liquid, then turned to leave.   
  
"Don't tell me YOU like me too..." Sasuke grumbled, plopping the bottle down on the table beside him.   
  
"No, Sakura-chan had to ask me to come. Now take that medicine." She said, pausing in front of the door.  
  
"Hmmph. It's good you don't like me. Let me tell you, I would NEVER like any of you." He said, trying to get the point acrossed, just incase she'd been lying.   
  
"I don't like you, but Sakura-chan really does."   
  
"I know that." He growled, expecting her to leave. But Hinata just sat back down and spoke.  
  
"I think you'd make a good couple. Why don't you like her?"   
  
"I just don't. It would take up too much time. It's worthless, to love. I need to avenge. No time for any of those unimportant bothers." He stared out the window. It was raining again(or still, Sasuke had no idea how long he'd been lying in that room.).   
  
"You wake up each morning to kill? You keep going on and fighting for life just to avenge? Sasuke-san, Life is more than that. You are weak if you only live to kill."   
  
"I'm not weak... It's not ALL I live for.." Sasuke vehemently defended, an edgy tone in his voice.   
  
"Strength is knowing that all people fail, all make mistakes. Strength is knowing that you'd die for another to live, not for another to die." She paused, glancing over at him. "If you are strong, tell me this:" she stopped again, turning to leave. As she opened the door, she finished.  
  
"What DO you live for?"   
  
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A/N - Teehee. Enjoy, R&R, blah blah blah.... all that junk. 


	2. NOTICE

~~~NOTICE~~~~  
  
As per the few reviews saying Hinata is OOC; I watch the anime, and I've only seen up to episode 43. It seems that Hinata is shy around Naruto, and at other times is just quiet. She LIKES Naruto, which is why she is shy. That's all I've seen, and from what I can judge, she knows what she is talking about and all that junk. I know she is good with medecines and healing; and I know she doesn't like Sasuke, so I thought they'd make a good couple so I could show them actually FALLING IN LOVE rather than that already liking crap. And I'm more of a fan for Hetero (but I still read/write yoai) so that wouldn't work if I used a Yoai couple.  
  
As for THAT; I haven't seen a single fanfic here on FF.Net that has SasuHina. I was missing from my computer for a few weeks; but now i'm back, so if you see any SasuHina fics from back a couple weeks ago on here, send me the link. Inspiration, you know? 


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